Power adapters are ubiquitous and are used in a variety of electronic devices. Some power adapters convert an incoming AC voltage into a DC voltage for use be a connected electronic devices. Some other power adapters convert an AC waveform to another AC waveform, where the output voltage and frequency can be set arbitrarily. Most electronic devices operate on a DC voltage. Examples of electronic devices include but are not limited to computers, portable media players, tablets, mobile phones, etc.
Most of these electronic devices have an internal battery that can be charged by applying a DC voltage to the battery. The battery stores the charge, which can then be used by the electronic device for its operation. Most electrical energy supplied to homes and industries is in the form of AC voltage. Thus, in order to charge the battery of an electronic device, it is necessary to convert the AC voltage to the required DC voltage. Many of the power adapters in use today are designed to accept incoming AC voltage, e.g., via a receptacle connector located in the wall (commonly known as a “wall outlet”), and convert it to a DC voltage. The explanation of AC and DC voltage is omitted here since they well-known in the art.
In a power adapter, a transformer converts the incoming AC power to DC power and associated circuitry may filter and regulate the DC to a desired value. Each of the individual components of a basic conventional AC-DC adapter is well-known in the art. Often some sort of insulator material is provided between the high-voltage circuitry of the adapter (e.g., AC voltage) and the low voltage circuitry (e.g., DC voltage). The insulator material helps to protect the low voltage circuitry from being affected by malfunction in the high voltage circuitry.
Conventionally, the process of assembling a power adapter includes many manual steps. For example, an insulating material such as a Kapton® tape is hand-wrapped around the high-voltage components in order to provide the required insulation. Since a manual process is prone to large variations in quality and reliability, a better process of manufacturing a power adapter will greatly alleviate the quality issues and aid in the manufacturability of the power adapters. Other potential problems may be related to the use of separate printed circuit boards (i.e., one for the AC circuit and the other for the DC circuit), in that the boards must be electrically connected to each other prior to final assembly. This can result in manufacturing problems since individual connection wires may need to be hand soldered and because the small components must be held in place in a very small area during the manufacturing process. Some attempts at dealing with the potential wiring issues have been made by utilizing ribbon cable. Such cables, however, can be bulky, stiff and hard to work with in the small confines of power adaptors. They may, for example, require tape and/or glue to be held in place.